Wyoming Conservation : Lands, Services, and Economic Benefits

WYOMING OPEN SPACES INITIATIVE

AUTHORS Nicole Korfanta Benjamin Rashford Amy Pocewicz Eric Schacht Bo Alley James Luchsinger

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Wyoming Stock Growers in Wyoming

University of Wyoming Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources

University of Wyoming Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics

For more information (307) 766-5080 www.uwyo.edu/haub/ ruckelshaus-institute

UW Extension Publication B-1317 January 2018 Wyoming Conservation Easements: Lands, Services, and Economic Benefits

Nicole Korfanta1, Benjamin Rashford2, Amy Pocewicz3, Eric Schacht4, Bo Alley4, James Luchsinger5 1 University of Wyoming Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources 2 University of Wyoming Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics 3 US Fish and Service, Fairbanks, Alaska 4 Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust 5 The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming

Issued in furtherance of extension work, acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Glen Whipple, director, University of Wyoming Extension, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming 82071. Persons seeking admission, employment, or access to programs of the University of Wyoming shall be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age, political belief, veteran status, sexual orientation, and marital or familial status. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication or program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact their local UW Extension office. To file a complaint, write to the UW Employment Practices/Affirmative Action Office, University of Wyoming, Department 3434, 1000 E. University Avenue, Laramie, WY 82071. INTRODUCTION for the purpose of sage grouse conservation in Conservation Wyoming (USDA NRCS 2014). Investment in Conservation easements are a voluntary tool easements are available to private landowners to conserve conservation easements can create opportunity open spaces and working landscapes by limiting costs by limiting development options and widely recognized residential and commercial development or diverting limited funds from other conservation for protecting subdivision of land (Perrigo and Iverson 2002). needs. Substantial public investment in the working farms and Easements can also protect important wildlife system of conservation easements warrants an . Landowners can benefit financially from analysis of the public benefits that accrue from ranches, scenic private lands conservation. easements through a reduced burden when views, and open the landowner donates the or through Conservation easements are widely recognized direct payment for the loss of development for protecting working farms and ranches, scenic spaces throughout rights. Many landowners also enjoy the peace of views, and open spaces throughout the West. A the West. mind that comes from knowing that a property is growing body of research shows that the open permanently protected from development. spaces protected through conservation easements While conservation easements can provide clear provide even more than views and agricultural benefits to landowners, they can be expensive and products. They yield a range of ecosystem sometimes involve substantial public investment. services— “the conditions and processes through For instance, the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural which natural systems, and the species that make Resources Trust—funded primarily through them up, sustain and fulfill human life” (Daily legislative appropriation to enhance and conserve 1997). For instance, intact open spaces may wildlife and natural resource values—has invested support wildlife populations, recreational fishing, over $27 million in conservation easements since drinking water sources, and other economically 2005 (WWNRT 2017). In addition, the Natural important services. Many of these ecosystem Resource Conservation Service has invested over services have tangible and sizable economic $100 million to purchase conservation easements benefits to the public (e.g., Holmes et al. 2015, 1 Kovacs et al. 2013, Richardson et al. 2015). In documented in the state, 58 percent of those were Colorado, for example, conservation easements created since 2000 (NCED 2016)—evidence of are estimated to generate $4 to $12 of public strong interest in easements in recent years. benefit for each dollar invested by the state (Seidl As of 2016, more than 17 land trusts, et al. 2017). The ecosystem services and resulting governmental entities, and other organizations public benefits of conservation easements have held conservation easements protecting nearly not been inventoried or quantified for Wyoming. 650,000 acres of private lands in Wyoming Here, we inventory the types of resources, (Copeland and Browning 2016), representing ecosystem services, and public benefits protected 2.4 percent of all private lands and 1.0 percent from development by conservation easements of total land area of the state. For comparison, in Wyoming. We used geospatial analysis to Colorado had 2.5 million acres (6.6 percent of quantify land cover—the vegetation types, all private lands; COMaP 2016), and Montana development, water bodies, and other surface had 2.1 million acres of land (3.6 percent of features present—on lands under conservation all private lands; Montana Association of Land easement. We then used land cover and other Trusts 2016) under conservation easement. data to quantify key ecosystem services that Of Wyoming counties, Teton (31.1 percent), stem from conserved private lands. We focused Sublette (19.0 percent), and Sheridan (6.5 specifically on services that support quality of life percent) had the greatest percentages of private and the economy of Wyoming, including trout land area under easement (Figure 1). fisheries, big game habitat, protection of sensitive Land trusts in Wyoming acquire conservation species, and drinking . To determine easements both opportunistically and strategically. how conservation easements contribute to Each land trust’s mission provides a framework for conservation statewide, we also compared the evaluating potential conservation easement projects. land cover and services of easements to those For instance, The Nature Conservancy acquires provided by public lands and private lands conservation easements to protect , without easements. Finally, we characterized maintain open space, and reduce the threat of the public economic benefits that stem from fragmentation on private land to benefit people and ecosystem services conserved by investments in nature. The Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust is conservation easements on private lands. a statewide organization that conserves agricultural TAKING STOCK OF WYOMING lands to also sustain Wyoming’s history, culture, LANDS—GEOSPATIAL ANALYSIS and economy. Other land trusts focus conservation efforts on certain geographic priorities. The Jackson Private lands under conservation Hole Land Trust, for example, targets most of their easement conservation efforts in the Greater Yellowstone Easements are an important tool in Wyoming, Ecosystem, including Teton, Park, and Sublette where open spaces are jeopardized by rapid land Counties. conversion at a rate that exceeds that of other The mission-driven targeting of conservation western states. Wyoming lost an estimated 2.8 easements can result in clustering in some million acres (4,300 square miles) of open space locations, for instance, in crucial wildlife habitat between 2001 and 2011 (Center for American or areas where development threatens the Progress 2016) due in part to rural residential viability of working landscapes. Likewise, land development (Hulme et al. 2009), which fragments trusts have targeted easements in places such as lands and can be a net financial loss for counties Jackson Hole and Sheridan (Figure 2), where (Coupal et al. 2002, Carruthers and Úlfarsson high rates of residential development jeopardize 2008). Of the 745 conservation easements remaining open space.

2 | WYOMING OPEN SPACES INITIATIVE Conservation Easement Acres by County 0 - 5,000 5,000 - 25,000 25,000 - 50,000 50,000 - 111,768

Conservation easements Towns

0 12.5 25 50 Miles

Figure 1. Acres of land under easement by county and distribution of easements within counties (easements not shown to scale).

Land Cover Barren land or perennial ice/snow Cultivated crops Deciduous Developed lands

Emergent herbaceous wetlands Evergreen forest

Grassland herbaceous

Mixed forest Open water Pasture/hay Shrub/scrub Woody wetlands

Conservation easements

Towns

0 12.5 25 50 Miles

Figure 2. Land cover types of conservation easements in Wyoming (easements not shown to scale).

3 Table 1. Land cover types on private lands with easements, private lands without easements, and all public lands in Wyoming. Land cover types with higher than expected representation on private lands with easements (> 1 percent, the percent of Wyoming lands under conservation easement) are shown in bold.

Ownership type Private, Private, Public Statewide easement no easement total1 Land cover Deciduous forest (acres) 7,705 75,515 233,101 316,479 Percent of statewide total 2.4 23.9 73.7

Evergreen forest (acres) 45,331 1,013,540 6,163,030 7,231,187 Percent of statewide total 0.6 14.0 85.2

Mixed forest (acres) 351 12,217 41,485 54,133 Percent of statewide total 0.6 22.6 76.6

Shrub/scrub (acres) 315,595 11,769,100 20,170,500 32,294,850 Percent of statewide total 1.0 36.4 62.5

Grassland/herbaceous (acres) 160,071 10,523,400 7,008,210 17,711,510 Percent of statewide total 0.9 59.4 39.6

Woody wetlands (acres) 23,598 375,732 146,000 568,721 Percent of statewide total 4.1 66.1 25.7

Emergent herbaceous wetlands (acres) 27,678 383,761 161,454 585,450 Percent of statewide total 4.7 65.5 27.6

Pasture/hay (acres) 51,250 865,036 44,213 962,830 Percent of state 5.3 89.8 4.6

Cultivated crops (acres) 4,585 871,563 31,151 908,476 Percent of statewide total 0.5 95.9 3.4

Developed (acres) 4,542 417,445 124,348 547,846 Percent of statewide total 0.8 76.2 22.7

Open water (acres) 1,637 28,955 38,586 402,796 Percent of statewide total 0.4 7.2 9.6

Total 648,747 26,526,350 34,631,170 62,234,201 Percent of state 1.0 42.6 55.6 1Statewide totals are greater than the sum of the three categories due to mapped water features that were not represented within the individual land tenures.

4 | WYOMING OPEN SPACES INITIATIVE Table 2. Aquatic services on private lands with easements, private lands without easements, and all public lands in Wyoming. Services with higher than expected representation (> 1 percent) on private lands with easements are shown in bold.

Ownership type Private, Private, Public Statewide easement no easement total1 Drinking water sources1 Sensitive to pollution (acres) 74,792 2,080,501 293,970 2,485,732 Percent of statewide total 3.0 83.7 11.8

Wetlands (acres) 47,362 596,314 426,632 1,456,955 Percent of statewide total 3.3 40.9 29.3

WGFD Blue Ribbon streams (miles) 69 339 280 622 Percent of statewide total 11.1 54.5 45.1

All streams (miles) 4,170 81,160 84,358 174,928 Percent of statewide total 2.4 46.4 48.2 1For all but Blue Ribbon streams, statewide totals are greater than the sum of the three land tenure categories due to mapped water features that were not represented within the individual land tenures.

While individual land trusts may consider a new Although conservation easements currently easement acquisition in terms of the organization’s comprise one percent of Wyoming’s total land overall portfolio, it is also useful to consider what area, they include two percent of the state’s land types are protected or underrepresented in deciduous , four percent of woody the statewide easement portfolio. We conducted wetlands, five percent of herbaceous wetlands, geospatial analyses to determine the land cover and five percent of hay or pasture agricultural and ecosystem services protected by conservation lands (Table 1, Figure 2). As would be expected easements in Wyoming (methods provided from protected lands, conservation easements in Appendix). In cases where land cover type comprise less than one percent of the state’s or management designation protected by developed area and cropland. conservation easements exceeded one percent (the total land area protected by easements in Fisheries and water quality Wyoming), we found that easements offer greater More than 11 percent of the state’s Blue protection and provisioning of ecosystem services Ribbon trout fisheries—those designated as than expected by land area alone. “special resources” by Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) and having a Land cover minimum of 600 pounds of sport fish per mile Land cover is the physical land type at the (WGFD 2016)—flow through the one percent surface of the earth, and includes everything of Wyoming’s land area that includes private from grasslands and forests to water bodies lands with easements. Easements also protect and developed areas. Land cover is the basis for from development three percent of Wyoming’s wildlife habitat and the natural resources that wetlands and three percent of areas designated as support human populations. having sensitive groundwater used for drinking water (Bedessem et al. 2005).

5 Migration allows big game species to exploit seasonal changes in forage availability, supporting robust populations (Box 1; Fryxell and Sinclair 1988). Suspected migration routes are those that WGFD has identified for potential designation as vital habitat but for which there may not be supporting radiotelemetry data that would provide detailed migration maps. Nineteen percent of conservation easements overlapped with suspected moose migration corridors, 15 percent with suspected mule deer migration corridors, 11 percent with suspected pronghorn migration corridors, and 5 percent with suspected elk migration corridors (Table 3).

Species of conservation concern Species of conservation concern are those whose populations are thought to be declining or imperiled. Conservation of such species can support overall biodiversity in the state and reduce the need for listing under the Endangered Species Act. To avert further population declines of greater Big game sage-grouse and a potential listing under the Crucial winter ranges are identified by the Endangered Species Act, Wyoming adopted the WGFD as necessary for maintaining healthy Core Area Strategy (current version, Wyoming populations of big game species such as mule Executive Order 2015-4). Core areas limit deer, which typically use the same winter ranges development and disturbance in places to protect each year. Many of these crucial winter ranges sage grouse populations. Private lands with overlap with private lands, where conservation easements overlapped with about one percent of easements can protect economically important the state’s sage grouse core area. game species such as moose, elk, and mule deer. In the 2010 State Wildlife Action Plan, the WGFD The one percent of Wyoming land area protected designated Species of Greatest Conservation by easements protects six percent of the state’s Need—those that represent the health of the moose crucial winter range (Table 3), which is state’s biodiversity—as management priorities. consistent with the relatively high proportion of Habitat-based species models predict an average moose habitat, including wetlands, conserved of 21 sensitive species across all private land with by easements. Easements also protect three easements, comparable to other private lands (21 percent of elk and two percent of mule deer species predicted), and public lands (20 species). crucial winter range in the state. One percent of pronghorn and one percent of white-tailed deer Landscape connectivity crucial winter range are on private lands with Easements provide an additional benefit by conservation easements. increasing connectivity among public and private Like crucial winter range, the WGFD also land and water resources. Most conservation defines migration corridors as vital habitat. easements (94 percent) are adjacent to public

6 | WYOMING OPEN SPACES INITIATIVE Table 3. Big game crucial winter range and migration corridors on private lands with easements, private lands without easements, and all public lands in Wyoming. Services with higher than expected representation (> 1 percent) on private lands with easements are shown in bold.

Ownership type Private, Private, Public Statewide easement no easement total Big game crucial winter range All species combined (acres) 293,160 5,319,999 8,933,888 14,596,470 Percent of statewide total 2.0 36.4 61.2

Elk (acres) 111,897 1,121,798 3,099,171 4,336,560 Percent of statewide total 2.6 25.9 71.5

Moose (acres) 72,432 418,217 781,177 1,283,611 Percent of statewide total 5.6 32.6 60.9

Mule deer (acres) 132,919 2,510,591 3,627,582 6,295,564 Percent of statewide total 2.1 39.9 57.6

Pronghorn (acres) 56,692 2,150,117 3,699,814 5,929,578 Percent of statewide total 1.0 36.3 62.4

White-tailed deer (acres) 2,600 167,521 43,293 213,574 Percent of statewide total 1.2 78.4 20.3

Suspected big game migration routes1 Elk (miles) 207 1,387 3,989 4,063 Percent of statewide total 5.1 34.1 98.2

Moose (miles) 148 492 736 788 Percent of statewide total 18.8 62.4 93.4

Mule deer (miles) 595 2,791 3,744 3,854 Percent of statewide total 15.4 72.4 97.1

Pronghorn (miles) 351 2,353 2,897 3,096 Percent of statewide total 11.3 76.0 93.6

White-tailed deer (miles) 0 64 64 96 Percent of statewide total 0.0 66.8 66.3 1The sum of the individual categories is greater than the statewide total because migration routes were selected by segments that could overlap with more than one land tenure category.

7 BOX 1. PRIVATE LANDS SUSTAINING BIG GAME MIGRATIONS

Many of Wyoming’s big game populations migrate long distances between summer and winter ranges, capitalizing on critical forage resources along the way. Recent and ongoing radio telemetry and GPS collar studies provide detailed spatial data for mapping migration routes. Such Public Lands Private Lands maps can inform conservation efforts Bureau of Indian Affairs Agricultural Bureau of Land Management Residential by highlighting where migrating Forest Service Conservation easements animals cross land parcels at risk of State Migration corridor development. For example, mule deer migrating 150 miles from the Red Desert to the Hoback Basin in western Wyoming navigate a narrow bottleneck in the corridor near Pinedale, Wyoming. The private parcel overlapping that bottleneck was put up for sale in 2014 with the expectation that it would be developed as a rural subdivision. Maps of the migration corridor highlighted this vulnerability, and a conservation organization purchased the parcel and donated it to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, ensuring the long- term protection of the migration bottleneck. Migratory big game populations The Red Desert to Hoback mule deer migration crosses multiple are vulnerable to residential land ownership types (Sawyer et al. 2014, Rashford et al. 2015). development, which can obstruct their migration corridors. In Sublette County, which contains most of the Red Desert to Hoback mule deer migration corridor, 3 percent of private lands are protected by conservation easement and another 31 percent of the corridor is undeveloped and unprotected private agricultural lands. The migration’s fate is tied to the future of those working landscapes. As biologists identify and map more migration corridors across the state, conservation easements can provide an incentive for landowners to voluntarily protect the open spaces that big game populations rely on, while allowing them to continue their agricultural practices.

8 | WYOMING OPEN SPACES INITIATIVE lands. The high level of adjacency to public lands shrublands, grasslands, and evergreen forests. can be attributed to strategic siting of easements Private lands under conservation easement show by land trusts seeking to connect protected proportionally more representation of land cover areas, as well as the checkerboard pattern of land classes present at low percentages on public lands, ownership in some places where private lands including woody wetlands, emergent herbaceous border public lands. wetlands, and pasture and hay meadows (Figure 3). In terms of land area, public lands account Comparison of lands with for 351,667 acres of these land cover types. conservation easements to other Lands under conservation easement contribute private lands and public lands an additional 102,526 acres of wetlands and Ecosystem services are provided by the entire pasturelands, making conservation easements an portfolio of land ownership in Wyoming, important contributor to the statewide total of including 56 percent state, federal, and tribal wetlands and hay meadows that are important for lands (hereafter “public” lands), and 43 percent water quality and some wildlife. private lands without easements. These lands, and the one percent of Wyoming’s land area Ecosystem services across management type under conservation easement, have different Of the three management types analyzed, private proportions of land cover types, and presumably lands with and without easements protect more provide somewhat different types of ecosystem Blue Ribbon trout streams than expected by services. We used geospatial analyses to compare stream miles on private lands. Although private the land cover types and ecosystem services lands comprise 44 percent of the state, they present on conservation easements, other protect 66 percent of Blue Ribbon streams. Of private lands, and public lands in Wyoming (see the state’s 622 miles of Blue Ribbon streams, 69 Appendix for methods). miles (11 percent) flow through conservation Land cover across management type easements. The large majority (96.3 percent) of public lands The majority (84 percent) of the state’s in Wyoming comprise three land cover types: over two million acres of sensitive drinking

Private—with easement (648,747 acres) Private—no easement (26,526,350 acres) Public (34,631,170 acres)

Cultivated crops Developed Open water, developed, pasture/hay, woody Open water 3% Developed Deciduous forest Cultivated crops 1% wetlands, cultivated crops—each <1% <1% 2% <1% 1% Deciduous forest Pasture/hay 1% Emergent herbaceous Deciduous forest Emergent Emergent herbaceous 3% Evergreen forest wetlands 1% herbaceous wetlands wetlands 4% Evergreen 1% 4% Pasture/hay 2% forest Woody wetlands 8% Woody wetlands 7% 1% 4% Grassland/ Evergreen forest herbaceous 18% 21%

Grassland/herbaceous 25% Shrub/scrub Grassland/herbaceous Shrub/scrub 49% 40% 45%

Shrub/scrub 59%

Figure 3. Land cover representation on private lands with easements, private lands with no easements, and all public lands in Wyoming. 9 water sources occur on private lands without those that accrue to the rest of society. In either easements, making many drinking water sources case, economic benefits include both monetary vulnerable to the effects of future development. and non-monetary considerations. Conservation easements contribute an additional Private benefits to the landowner include both 75,000 acres (3 percent). Public lands, the most direct monetary incentives and non-monetary abundant land management type in Wyoming, benefits. Direct incentives include the payments protect a relatively small proportion (12 percent) and tax benefits landowners receive for entering of Wyoming’s sensitive drinking water sources. an easement. Easements can also directly Public lands protect nearly nine million acres, benefit landowners by reducing the challenges or 61 percent, of Wyoming’s big game crucial of transferring land to future generations as winter range, substantially more than private a result of estate-tax exclusions under the tax lands (36 percent of the state total). In terms of code. Lastly, private benefits also include non- total acres protected, public lands protect more monetary benefits, such as the value landowners elk, moose, mule deer, and pronghorn crucial place on preserving ecosystem services and on winter range than private lands. By contrast, maintaining the rural culture supported by intact private lands support more white-tailed deer working lands (Box 2). crucial winter range (78 percent of the state The public benefits of conservation easements total) than public lands (20 percent). can be diverse and difficult to explicitly value All land management types are important for in monetary terms. To simplify, we characterize protection of big game migration routes, which public benefits by distinguishing between those traverse landscapes and property boundaries. For derived from the preservation of ecosystem elk, moose, mule deer, and pronghorn, at least 93 services and those derived from other functions to 98 percent of all suspected migration routes of easements, such as the preservation of travel across federal lands. Suspected white-tailed working agricultural lands. Our focus here is deer migration routes are equally split between on ecosystem service benefits, but we end this private and public lands. section by briefly summarizing some of the other potential benefits. Public lands account for the majority, or 69 percent, of sage grouse core area in Wyoming Characterizing the potential economic benefits (9.9 million acres), with private lands of easements as we do below does not imply contributing about half that much core area. The that the benefits of an easement will always relative importance of public lands in sage grouse outweigh its costs (Messer 2006). Such a detailed core area management is consistent with the fact benefit-cost analysis would require a careful that public lands represent nearly twice the shrub accounting of all the benefits and costs measured acreage of private lands. in monetary terms, including all the public and private benefits and costs. Costs should account ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF for both the direct cost of the easement and the CONSERVATION EASEMENTS IN opportunity costs that result from not conserving WYOMING the land, including restricted land-use options in Conservation easements and the resources they perpetuity (Esseks 2003). protect—fisheries, water quality, habitat for big game and species of concern, agriculture, Public benefits of ecosystem services streams, and drinking water—have both private on private lands and public economic benefits (Figure 4). Here we Given the range of land cover types and natural distinguish private benefits as those that accrue resources protected in Wyoming, conservation directly to the landowner, and public benefits as easements preserve or enhance a wide array

10 | WYOMING OPEN SPACES INITIATIVE Figure 4. Public investments in conservation easements yield both private and public benefits. of ecosystem services that can generate public $600 for rangeland (shrub/scrub), $20 to $90 for benefits (Villamagna et al. 2015). Below we grassland, and $60 to $900 for forestland. Such characterize some of the potential benefits monetary valuation estimates have large ranges associated with the inventory above, and provide depending on the explicit ecosystem functions context for considering their monetary value. considered (e.g., water treatment vs. carbon sequestration vs. wildlife habitat), and can vary Land cover tremendously depending on parcel-specific land The different land covers protected by easements characteristics.1 in Wyoming support a range of ecological functions that can produce public benefits. Fisheries and water quality Natural land covers, for example, are more Conservation easements in Wyoming protect effective than developed lands at controlling a disproportionate amount of the state’s Blue erosion and maintaining soil functions, such as Ribbon trout fisheries, which support an nutrient cycling and carbon storage. Although important component of Wyoming’s recreation it is difficult to accurately assign a monetary economy. The US Department of Interior (US value to many of these ecological functions, a DOI 2011) estimates that 303,000 people fished few studies have attempted to approximate the in Wyoming during 2011, with 3.1 million days total ecosystem service values associated with spent afield. Anglers spend on average $126 per conserving different land covers in the west (e.g., 1 Average value estimates for broad regions should not be Sargent-Michaud 2009, Taylor et al. 2011). used to determine landowner compensation under ease- Annual per acre estimates range from $20 to ments; determining fair compensation requires detailed and parcel-specific considerations.

11 BOX 2. LANDOWNER PROFILE BOX—SOMMERS FAMILY RANCH

The Sommers family has been raising cattle and growing hay in Sublette County, Wyoming, since 1907. To help fund their retirement, siblings Albert and Jonita Sommers sold conservation easements on property their family had held for over one hundred years. “This easement will allow the land to remain undeveloped, which is a benefit to cattle and wildlife, and it will allow us to pass our ranch along to another generation of ranchers,” said Albert. “We are trying to create a future for this ranch.” RANCHLAND SUCCESSION PLAN AND LIVING MUSEUM Placing a conservation easement on a ranch can also be an important estate planning tool, providing landowners retirement income and tax savings. With no family members to take over the operation, Albert and Jonita designed a private agreement enabling the neighbors’ sons to acquire the historic ranch and associated grazing leases. In addition to their ranchland succession plans, the Sommers family developed a living museum on the ranch with help from the Sublette Aerial view of the Sommers Ranch under conservation easement. County Historical Society. The museum includes historic ranch buildings and agricultural implements that provide the public a glimpse of how ranch life was in the past. The family welcomes school groups and members of the public. LAND COVER AND CONTIGUITY The Sommers ranch consists of 1,000 acres of rangeland, 200 acres of irrigated pasture, 30 acres of wetland and 827 acres of hayland, straddling four miles of the

12 | WYOMING OPEN SPACES INITIATIVE Green River. Interest in continuing their family’s conservation legacy led Albert and Jonita to enroll their land into a perpetual conservation easement, including 1,900 acres along the Green River, in 2010. The Sommers ranch is contiguous with the 3,210-acre Todd Place, which is a part of the Grindstone conservation easement project. Together, the two easements provide an immense, unbroken landscape between two large tracts of Bureau of Land Management land. MAINTAINING BIG GAME AND SAGE GROUSE POPULATIONS The Sommers ranch provides crucial habitat and vital migration corridors for mule deer, pronghorn, and moose. The riparian areas are home to nesting songbirds, raptors, waterfowl, shorebirds, sandhill cranes, and blue herons. The ranch is also within sage grouse core area, and surrounding areas host sage-grouse leks. RECREATIONAL ACCESS At the request of the landowners, the Sommers-Grindstone project includes a public fishing access easement on the Green River, which is held by the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission. The area provides walking and boat access to nearly five miles of the river. The Sommers-Grindstone easement allows public recreational access. “Our family has always allowed fishing on our property,” said Albert Sommers. “With more and more ranches being bought as fishing estates, we wanted to include the access to continue our legacy of allowing the public to fish. Generations to come will see the vistas just as settlers did more than 100 years ago.”

13 day for total trip-related expenditures of nearly game crucial winter range and migration habitat $400 million. Many of the anglers in Wyoming on easements helps to sustain the populations (64 percent) are non-residents, suggesting the that are often found on public lands during the importance of healthy fisheries to the state’s hunting season (Coupal et al. 2004). tourism sector. Wyoming county-specific Estimates using 2014 data indicate that 119,021 analyses also indicate that fishing spending makes big game hunters spent 1.2 million days in the important contributions to local economies. field in Wyoming (Southwick Associates 2017), Previous studies estimated, for example, that spending an average of $92 dollars per day for a fishing-related spending in 2015 contributed total of $190 million in trip-related expenditures. nearly $11 million to local economic activity Wyoming county-specific analyses indicate that in Park County, $7 million in Carbon County, hunting and fishing spending are also important and $21 million in Teton County (Taylor 2016, contributors to local economies. For example, Taylor and Foulke 2016, Taylor and Foulke hunting-related spending contributed nearly 2017). $13 million to local economic activity in Park Intact wetland also contribute to surface County (Taylor 2016), $20 million in Carbon water regulation and groundwater protection, County (Taylor and Foulke 2016), and $8.5 which are particularly important ecological million in Teton County (Taylor and Foulke functions given that easements in Wyoming 2017). disproportionally protect high percentages of drinking water sources and wetland land covers. Species of conservation concern In addition to fish and big game, the Big game conservation of wildlife in general and species of Conservation easements help sustain healthy big conservation concern in particular, can provide game populations that contribute to Wyoming’s additional public benefits. The US Department of recreation economy. Although rare, in some cases Interior (US DOI 2011), for example, estimates landowners may provide recreational access for that 518,000 people in Wyoming participated the public (Box 2). Even when easements do not in other wildlife-related recreation (435,000 allow direct public access, the protection of big participating “away from home”), such as wildlife

Table 4. Sage grouse core area and species of conservation concern on private lands with easements, private lands without easements, and all public lands in Wyoming.

Ownership type Private, Private, no Public Statewide easement easement total Species of conservation concern Sage grouse core areas (acres) 171,074 5,177,902 9,907,146 15,313,480 Percent of statewide total 1.1 33.8 64.7

Average predicted number of terrestrial species 21.3 20.9 20.1 20.5 of greatest conservation need

Average predicted number of Tier 1 terrestrial 2.4 3.1 3.4 3.3 species of greatest conservation need

14 | WYOMING OPEN SPACES INITIATIVE watching. Wildlife watchers participated in just over three million activity-days, and spent $321 million in trip-related expenditures. These numbers suggest the importance of abundant and diverse wildlife populations, for the benefit of both residents and tourists. Habitat protection also reduces the probability of listing under the Endangered Species Act. In Wyoming, private lands with easements support a large suite of species of greatest conservation concern. By supporting sensitive wildlife species and their habitats, conserved private lands may help the state avoid expensive regulatory measures. An endangered species listing for greater sage-grouse, for example, is projected to reduce state and local revenue by up to agricultural industry and thereby contributing $287 million per year, in addition to reducing to the preservation of the rural economy and commodity-related jobs and economic activity culture. By supporting the agricultural industry, (Stoellinger and Taylor 2017). Such avoided conservation easements can contribute to costs should be factored in when considering regional economic activity—the employment, the potential public benefits of private lands , and flow of dollars from one business conservation. to another that sustains local communities. Landscape connectivity Easement payments themselves and the economic activity from associated agricultural The high frequency of adjacency of Wyoming production or recreation, for example, generate conservation easements to public lands creates spending in local communities that supports large expanses of undeveloped open spaces income and employment. Taylor et al. (2017) that provide direct and indirect benefits to estimated that in 2014 agriculture was residents and the visitors that support Wyoming’s responsible for approximately $4.2 billion in tourism economy. Conserved agricultural land economic contributions to the state, supporting contributes directly to tourism through guest 33,348 jobs and nearly $1 billion in labor ranches and outfitting opportunities and by income. preserving the open spaces, wildlife, and cultural heritage that tourists associate with Wyoming. Economists use regional economic multipliers Tourism is an integral part of Wyoming’s to capture the indirect effects of spending in economy, with over 8.5 million visitors in 2016 one sector of the economy on other related spending over $3.2 billion in local communities sectors. The size of the multiplier depends (Wyoming Office of Tourism 2017). on the multiplier type (income, spending, or employment) and the sector. Typical Other public benefits of private lands multipliers for agricultural production and conservation outdoor recreation in Wyoming generally In addition to benefits derived from ecosystem range from 1.35 to 2.00—every dollar spent services, easements can generate a host of generates an additional $0.35 to $1 of activity other public benefits. The preservation of in the community (David Taylor, personal working agricultural lands, for example, can communication). benefit local communities by supporting the

15 Even in a state Preserving working lands can also have indirect lands with conservation easements connect to effects on neighboring unprotected lands. public lands, contributing to a landscape that with abundant Working lands that maintain the rural culture supports wide-ranging wildlife populations of public land and preserve open space can be attractive economic importance. And finally, conservation resources, private to residential developers and homeowners. easements contribute to a statewide conservation Conservation easements can therefore portfolio by protecting a suite of resources that lands protected affect neighboring unprotected or already- is somewhat different from, and complementary by conservation developed land parcels by increasing residential to, that found on public lands. Even in a state development potential and thus property values with abundant public land resources, private easements (McConnell and Walls 2005). On the other lands protected by conservation easements support a set hand, conversion of working lands to residential support a set of cultural and ecosystem services or other development can exacerbate natural that contribute substantially to conservation in of cultural and pests or invasive weeds that cross property Wyoming. ecosystem services boundaries (Brunson and Huntsinger 2008). The resources protected by private lands, both Similarly, the intermingling of residential and that contribute with easements and without, generate public working lands can lead to conflicts between economic benefits. By protecting fish and big substantially to the alternative land uses that complicate game populations, conservation easements agricultural production (e.g., farm noise and conservation in contribute to Wyoming’s growing recreation odor complaints). Thus, by reducing conflicts, and tourism industries and add to the economic Wyoming. easements can have positive indirect benefits for diversity of the state. By conserving working surrounding agricultural lands. landscapes, easements help to maintain Added to the more tangible public benefits Wyoming’s unique agricultural heritage and above, conserved open spaces also produce industry. other less-tangible benefits—those enjoyed by Together, public and protected private lands members of the public even if they do not use maintain open spaces and the ecosystem the resources directly. Such benefits include services they provide. But while the inventory having the option to use a resource in the future of protected public lands remains mostly static, (“option value”); the benefit of simply knowing residential and other development continually that a resource exists (“existence value”); and ratchets down the quality and quantity of the value of preserving resources for future open space in Wyoming, making private lands generations to enjoy (“bequest value”). These conservation a priority. public benefits are difficult to explicitly value in monetary terms, but they exist nonetheless. Conservation easements are one tool for slowing Moreover, public benefits linked to option, the loss of Wyoming’s open spaces. Although existence, and bequest values associated with easements currently comprise a small fraction open spaces, wildlife, hunting opportunities, and of the state’s land base, our analyses show that agricultural heritage are central to public support public investment in easements can protect for easements in Wyoming. critical resources while yielding broader economic benefits. These public economic benefits should TYING IT TOGETHER be considered along with the private benefits and Our inventory shows that current conservation transactional costs of easements to evaluate future easements in Wyoming protect more Blue public investments in private lands conservation. Ribbon trout fisheries, sensitive drinking water Future investments in easements could continue sources, big game winter ranges, and big game to grow these economic benefits if the public and migration corridors than would be expected policy makers target them effectively (Rashford et based on their land area. Further, most private al. 2015).

16 | WYOMING OPEN SPACES INITIATIVE REFERENCES local stakeholders form agricultural conservation Bedessem, M.E., B. Casey, K. Frederick, and easements.” American Farmland Trust, N. Nibbelink. 2005. “Aquifer prioritization for Washington D.C. ambient ground water monitoring.” Ground Fryxell, J. M., and A.R.E. Sinclair. 1988. Water Monitoring and Remediation 25: 150-158. “Causes and consequences of migration by large Brunson, M.W. and L. Huntsinger. 2008. herbivores.” Trends in Ecology and Evolution 3: “Ranching as a conservation strategy: Can old 237-241. ranchers save the new west?” Rangeland Ecology Holmes, T.P., J.M. Bowker, J. Englin, E. Hjerpe, and Management 61: 137-147. J.B. Loomis, S. Phillips, and R. Richardson. Carruthers, J.I. and G.F. Úlfarsson. 2008. “Does 2015. “A synthesis of the economic values of ‘smart growth’ matter to public finance?” Urban wilderness.” Journal of Forestry 114: 320-328. Studies 45: 1791-1823. Hulme, D., C. Andersen, K. Parady, J. Center for American Progress. 2016. “The Hamerlinck, S. Lieske, I. Burke. 2009. disappearing west.” Accessed December 15. “Wyoming’s state of the space: A comprehensive https://disappearingwest.org. review of trends in Wyoming.” William D. Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and COMaP. 2016. “Downloads and uploads.” Natural Resources, University of Wyoming. Accessed December 15. https://comap.cnhp. colostate.edu/about-comap/. Kovacs, K., S. Polasky, E. Nelson, B.L. Keeler, D. Pennington, A.J. Plantinga, S.J. Taff. 2013. Copeland, H. and K. Browning. 2016. “Evaluating the return in ecosystem services from “Conservation easements held by land trusts and investment in public land acquisitions.” PLoS agencies in Wyoming.” The Nature Conservancy, ONE 8(6): e62202. Lander, WY. McConnell, W. and M. Walls. 2005. “The Coupal, R., G. Beauvais, D. Feeney, and value of open space: Evidence form studies of S. Lieske. 2004. “The role and economic non-market benefits.” Resources for the Future, importance of private lands in providing Washington D.C. habitat for Wyoming’s big game.” William D. Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Messer, K.D. 2006. “The conservation benefits Natural Resources, University of Wyoming, of cost-effective land acquisition: A case B-1150. study in Maryland.” Journal of Environmental Management 79: 305-315. Coupal, R., D.T. Taylor, D. McLeod. 2002. “The cost of community services for rural Montana Association of Land Trusts. residential development in Wyoming.” William 2016. Accessed December 1. http://www. D. Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and montanalandtrusts.org/faqs/#Q05. Natural Resources, University of Wyoming, National Conservation Easements Database B-1133. (NCED). 2016. Accessed December 1. http:// Daily, G.C. 1997. “Introduction: What are conservationeasement.us. Ecosystem Services?” In Nature’s Services: Societal Perrigo, A. and J. Iverson. 2002. “Conservation Dependence on Natural Ecosystems, edited by G.C. easements: an introductory review for Daily, 1-10. Washington D.C.: Island Press. Wyoming.” William D. Ruckelshaus Institute of Esseks, J.D., R.C. Owens, C.A. Francis, and D. Environment and Natural Resources, University Schroeder. 2003. “Estimating the benefits to of Wyoming, B-1132.

17 Rashford, B.S., A.M. Scott, M. Hayes and Taylor, D., and T. Foulke. 2016. “Carbon H. Sawyer. 2015. “Targeting conservation County related hunting and fishing spending, easement purchases to benefit wildlife.” William 2015.” Department of Agricultural Economics, D. Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and University of Wyoming. Natural Resources, University of Wyoming, Taylor, D., and T. Foulke. 2017. “Teton B-1266. County related hunting and fishing spending, Richardson, L., J. Loomis, T. Kroeger, F. Casey. 2015.” Department of Agricultural Economics, 2015. “The role of benefit transfer in ecosystem University of Wyoming. service valuation.” Ecological Economics 115: 51- Taylor, D., R. Coupal and T. Foulke. 2017. “The 58. economic importance of Wyoming agricultural Sargent-Michaud, J. 2009. “A return on production.” Department of Agricultural investment: The economic value of Colorado’s Economics, University of Wyoming. conservation easements.” The Trust for Public US Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Land, San Francisco, CA. Conservation Service (USDA NRCS). 2014. Sawyer, H., M. Hayes, B. Rudd, and M. “Wyoming’s Core Area Policy and conservation Kauffman. 2014. The Red Desert to Hoback easements benefit sage-grouse.” Mule Deer Migration Assessment. Wyoming US Department of Interior (DOI), US Fish Migration Initiative, University of Wyoming, and Wildlife Service. 2011. “National survey Laramie, WY. of fishing and wildlife-associated recreation – Seidl, A., D. Anderson, D. Bennett, A. Wyoming.” Washington, D.C. Greenwell, and M. Menefee. 2017. “Colorado’s Villamagna, A., L. Scott, and J. Gillespie. 2015. return on investments in conservation easements: “Collateral benefits from public and private Conservation Easement Tax Credit program conservation lands: a comparison of ecosystem and Great Outdoors Colorado.” Colorado State service capacities.” Environmental Conservation University, Fort Collins, Colorado. 42: 204-215. Southwick Associates. 2017. “Economic Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD). contributions of big game hunting in Wyoming.” 2016. “Wyoming Game and Fish Department Southwick Associates, Fernandina Beach, FL. Fish Division administrative report.” Accessed Stoellinger, T. and D. Taylor. 2017. “Economic October 27. https://wgfd.wyo.gov/WGFD/ impact to Wyoming’s economy from a potential media/content/PDF/Fishing/Stream%20Class/ listing of the sage grouse.” Wyoming Law Review WYSTREAM_STREAMRANKING.pdf. 17: 79-115. Wyoming Office of Tourism. 2017. “2016 Year Taylor, D.T., J. Lavato, J. Sargent-Michaud, and in Review.” Accessed May 1, 2017. http://www. D. Stevens. 2011. “Economic contributions of travelwyoming.com/sites/default/sitefiles/files/ the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource uploads/industry/YearInReview%20Final.pdf. Trust.” William D. Ruckelshaus Institute of Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resouces Environment and Natural Resources, University Trust (WWNRT). 2017. “Projects selected for of Wyoming, B-1230. funding.” Accessed May 22. https://sites.google. Taylor, D. 2016. “Park County related hunting com/a/wyo.gov/wwnrt/projects-funded. and fishing spending, 2015.” Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Wyoming.

18 | WYOMING OPEN SPACES INITIATIVE APPENDIX GIS data and methods We gathered conservation easement data in May 2016 from Wyoming land trusts (Copeland and Browning 2016) and the National Conservation Easement Database (http://www.conservationeasement.us/). We identified private versus public land tenure using the Bureau of Land Management’s Surface Management Dataset (https://www.blm.gov/wy). We included tribal lands within the public lands category. The extents of private lands with easements, private lands without easements, and public lands were intersected with resource datasets, in either raster (30-m resolution) or polygon format, to produce acreage or length summaries. To determine intersecting area or acreage, we used the “extract by mask” procedure in ArcGIS, where the land status dataset (e.g., easements) was the mask dataset. We did this for land cover classes (National Land Cover Dataset 2014, http://www.mrlc.gov/nlcd2011.php), drinking water sources sensitive to pollution (Bedessem et al. 2005), wetlands (National Wetland Inventory 2010), big game crucial ranges (https://wgfd. wyo.gov/Wildlife-in-Wyoming/Geospatial-Data, accessed Aug 2016), and sage grouse core area (Wyoming Game and Fish Department 2015, version 4). To determine lengths of streams or migration routes, we used the “select by location” procedure in ArcGIS, where we selected all the streams or migration routes that intersected with the land status of interest and then summed the miles within that selection. We did this for streams (National Hydrology Dataset, 100k scale), Blue Ribbon streams (Wyoming Game and Fish Department 2013, https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Wildlife-in-Wyoming/ Geospatial-Data), and suspected big game migration routes (https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Wildlife-in-Wyoming/ Geospatial-Data, accessed Aug 2016). Additionally, we calculated the average number of species of concern occurences across each land status category. For each of the 131 terrestrial Species of Greatest Conservation Need, we accessed a raster dataset where predicted habitat for the species was assigned a value of 1 (Wyoming Game and Fish Department 2010). We summed the predicted habitat raster datasets across all species, which produced a raster summarizing the number of predicted species per pixel. Then, for each land status, we calculated the average number of species that occurred across all pixels belonging to that land status.

19 Wyoming Open Spaces Initiative Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources 804 E. Fremont Street Laramie, WY 82072